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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Crappy Choruses & Horrible Hymns redux
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HenryT
Canadian Anglican
# 3722
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Posted
quote:
Originally babbled by Anna B:
Don't get me started on rounds sung in church...
They'll never replace vocal canons ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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"Perhaps an invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man may, in these refined, enlightened days, be deemed old-fashioned" P. Henry, 1788
Posts: 7231 | From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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The Bede's American Successor
Curmudgeon-in-Training
# 5042
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by tomb:
This Sunday during Communion, we will be singing a little ditty with a refrain that runs: Bind us together, Lord/Bind us together/with chords that cannot be broken.../bind us together in Love.
It's actually not too bad, and the verse fits the propers quite nicely.
Still, I am incapable of thinking of it as anything other than "Bondage for Jesus."
tomb
One bed. Three bodies. Menage a trois.
(For those that don't know the original:
One bread, one Body, one Lord of all.)
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This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride of wealth and food in plenty, comfort and ease, and yet she never helped the poor and the wretched.
—Ezekiel 16.49
Posts: 6079 | From: The banks of Possession Sound | Registered: Oct 2003
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by tomb:
This Sunday during Communion, we will be singing a little ditty with a refrain that runs: Bind us together, Lord/Bind us together/with chords that cannot be broken.../bind us together in Love.
You must have the same book as us judging by the typo.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Thistle
Apprentice
# 5142
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Posted
quote:
I'm told by my literary correspondence that Rosetti wrote a poem about lesbianism. Is this true?
Several of Rosetti's poems were addressed to a female love interest, though it's entirely possible that she was using a male voice. Her major work, Goblin Market, includes two sisters who express their love for each other in a physical/sexual sort of way. General opinion seems to be that Rosetti's sexuality was just very repressed (but I'm taking that mainly from Germaine Greer, and I'm sure most people appear repressed to her!)
As far as inappropriate choruses go, a music leader of my acquaintance told me about a couple who decided to have 'Led like a lamb to the slaughter (in silence, and shame)' as the first hymn of their wedding ceremony. The chorus perks up a bit, to be fair, but the implication is unfortunate to say the least!
[ 06. November 2003, 22:14: Message edited by: Thistle ]
Posts: 24 | From: Oxford | Registered: Nov 2003
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multipara
Shipmate
# 2918
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Posted
Bloody Christina and her "snow on snow"...
Ever tried singint that at 35 degrees C during an Antipodean Midnight Mass?
As for Mrs Hemans: Dyfrig, all was forgiven years ago when my dear late dad regaled us with the following:
The boy stood on the burning deck
A-picking his nose like mad.
He rolled it up in little balls
And threw them at his dad.
Forgive the tangent, but I could not resist it. It apparently did the rounds of St Patrick's College, Goulburn ( a grim boarding school in a grimmer New South Wales railway town)during the 1930s.
cheers,
m
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quod scripsi, scripsi
Posts: 4985 | From: new south wales | Registered: Jun 2002
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jugular
Voice of Treason
# 4174
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Posted
quote:
Goulburn ( a grim boarding school in a grimmer New South Wales railway town)
Ahem! I was BORN in that grim town, and my father worked on said railways. ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
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We’ve got to act like a church that hasn’t already internalized the narrative of its own decline Ray Suarez
Posts: 2599 | From: Australia | Registered: Feb 2003
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dorothea
Goodwife and low church mystic
# 4398
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Posted
Multipara wrote:
quote:
Bloody Christina and her "snow on snow"...
Ever tried singint that at 35 degrees C during an Antipodean Midnight Mass?
LOL, very inappropriate! But on the sort of cold Christmas Eve night, when we celebrate Holy Communion in our local church at the foot of the Pennines, ya' can't beat it. Guess, geography and climate wasn't Christina's strong point.
![[Biased]](wink.gif) J
Posts: 1581 | From: Notlob City Limits | Registered: Apr 2003
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ce
Shipmate
# 1957
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by dorothea:
Multipara wrote:
quote:
Bloody Christina and her "snow on snow"...
Ever tried singint that at 35 degrees C during an Antipodean Midnight Mass?
LOL, very inappropriate! But on the sort of cold Christmas Eve night, when we celebrate Holy Communion in our local church at the foot of the Pennines, ya' can't beat it. Guess, geography and climate wasn't Christina's strong point.
ISTR that it was written as a commission for an American Magazine (Scribners?).
Anyway, think allegory, she used it a lot - "deep midwinter of the soul" sort of thing.
And have a look at Goblin Market
ce
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ce
Posts: 376 | From: Middlesex, U.K. | Registered: Dec 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by multipara:
Bloody Christina and her "snow on snow"...
Ever tried singint that at 35 degrees C
It's a metaphor, dearest.
I think she was well aware that it doesn't snow that often in Bethlehem!
(Tho it does sometimes)
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
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Posted
Reminds me of both a prayer (Hail and Blessed be the hour and the moment) and a common answer we children were taught about when Christ was born: "At midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold."
I have no notion of where the hour of Jesus' birth is recorded - I assume that the prayer was written somewhere that invariably had piercing cold in (the assumed date of) December.
I'm in Christmas mode as a result of these posts - yes, I like the hymn, but there is dreadful theology (ironically the sort of point condemned centuries ago, as denying Jesus' humanity) in "Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see!"
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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
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ce
Shipmate
# 1957
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
quote:
Originally posted by multipara:
Bloody Christina and her "snow on snow"...
Ever tried singint that at 35 degrees C
It's a metaphor, dearest.
Yep, metaphor, dunno why I said allegory - probably thinking of "Goblin Market" - although Rossetti tried to deny that that was allegorical....
ce
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ce
Posts: 376 | From: Middlesex, U.K. | Registered: Dec 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Newman's Own:
there is dreadful theology (ironically the sort of point condemned centuries ago, as denying Jesus' humanity) in "Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see!"
That's not Christina! That is Wesley.
Far from denying Jesus's humanity, In the Bleak Midwinter wonderfully (if sentimentally) affirms it:
quote:
Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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multipara
Shipmate
# 2918
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Posted
ken, I suspect you are too kind to the late Miss Rossetti.
I bet she knew about as much about the Bethlehem snow situation as she did about where babies came from (what with being a delicately brought-up English gel of the time).
cheers,
m
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quod scripsi, scripsi
Posts: 4985 | From: new south wales | Registered: Jun 2002
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musician
Ship's grin without a cat
# 4873
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Posted
Not so many years ago I first heard
"We have a king who rides a donkey" at Easter...sung to the tune of "what shall we do with the drunken sailor".
I now think of it as the drunken donkey song.
It's awful.
My kids hate a lot of the chorusy things too, specially when a 40-something is exhorting them to join in the actions.... ![[Projectile]](graemlins/puke2.gif)
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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
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Posted
Oh, heavens, Ken - my mind may not always be at its sharpest, but I have never reached the point where I could not tell Wesley from Christina. I was only making a general comment.
And here is one more (unrelated to ken's posts.) I loathe when Gregorian or Anglican chant, or chant melodies that have become popular hymns (such as Veni, Veni Emmanuel), are sung at a very sl-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w pace, because people who've never bothered to listen to CDs of Solesmes think that chants are supposed to drag on like bouts of influenza. I suppose some people think it is reverent - actually, the effect is ghastly.
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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
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Margaret
Shipmate
# 283
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Posted
Musician said
quote:
I now think of it as the drunken donkey song.
It's one of the abiding dreadful memories of a post-Christian friend of mine - only she thinks of it as the drunken Jesus song...
And talking of inappropriate tunes, a few weeks ago one of our communion hymns was something set to the tune of "Clementine". The choir bursr into it just as I got to the communion rail and I collapsed on my knees with a rather unholy giggle!
Posts: 2456 | From: West Midlands UK | Registered: May 2001
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Miffy
Ship's elephant
# 1438
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Posted
Our local radio played 'Love Divine, all loves excelling' this morning set to the melody of Mozart's 'Ave Verum.'
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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"I don't feel like smiling." "You're English dear; fake it!" (Colin Firth "Easy Virtue")
Growing Greenpatches
Posts: 4739 | From: The Kitchen | Registered: Oct 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by multipara:
I bet she knew about as much about the Bethlehem snow situation as she did about where babies came from (what with being a delicately brought-up English gel of the time).
Maybe you confuse her and her brother with their friend Ruskin! (who certainly had, er, trouble in that department )
I seriously suspect that biological ignorance had nothing to do with Christina Rossetti's single state.
The Rosettis were of course Italian by descent - and their uncle was "Vampyre" Polidori, intimate friend of the Byrons & Shelleys. Most of their social circle seemed quite knowledgeable about sex. In fact the only thing that stopped them going at it like fluffy bunnies was the large amounts of ether and opium they consumed.
Not that Christina ever got involved with such things - apparently she turned down two proposals of marriage because of religious reasons (one was an atheist and the other - horror! - a Roman Catholic) and spent a lot of time on charities for the rescuing of prostitutes and unmarried mothers.
I bet she knew exactly what her brother was doing all those times he went to stay at the Morris's whenever Mr. Morris was away for a few days.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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dyfrig
Blue Scarfed Menace
# 15
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
It's a metaphor, dearest.
For what?!?! ![[Confused]](confused.gif) That's a rather bizarre reading - she's told us already that it was in the bleak midwinter, so presumably the presence of snow is to press home the fact that this was, indeed the case. It's not metaphor - it's description. It might scrape in as pathetic fallacy, but there is no metaphorical reading possible, here. What is a lot of heavy snowfall meant to be a metaphor for, pray?
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"He was wrong in the long run, but then, who isn't?" - Tony Judt
Posts: 6917 | From: pob dydd Iau, am hanner dydd | Registered: Apr 2001
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ce
Shipmate
# 1957
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by dyfrig:
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
It's a metaphor, dearest.
For what?!?! That's a rather bizarre reading - she's told us already that it was in the bleak midwinter, so presumably the presence of snow is to press home the fact that this was, indeed the case. It's not metaphor - it's description. It might scrape in as pathetic fallacy, but there is no metaphorical reading possible, here. What is a lot of heavy snowfall meant to be a metaphor for, pray?
Things were already pretty horrible and they were getting steadily worse?
ce
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ce
Posts: 376 | From: Middlesex, U.K. | Registered: Dec 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by dyfrig:
What is a lot of heavy snowfall meant to be a metaphor for, pray?
Well, midwinter is like a dark and cold time, and like a soul, or a world, mired and trapped in sin and shame and spiritual dullness.
And all that snow on snow on snow on snow on snow on snow is like the world being covered by a whole lot of shiny but spiritually chilling stuff.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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dyfrig
Blue Scarfed Menace
# 15
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Posted
Ok, I'll grudgingly grant you that one.
It's still a shite hymn, though.
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"He was wrong in the long run, but then, who isn't?" - Tony Judt
Posts: 6917 | From: pob dydd Iau, am hanner dydd | Registered: Apr 2001
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Gracious rebel
Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
A comment in the 'conversion' thread in Hell ('Life is wonderful') suddenly brought memories flooding back of this dreadfully trite little ditty, to such a jolly tune that we used to sing in the 60s and 70s. Anyone remember it?
Life is wonderful
Yes its wonderful
Life is wonderful now to me
I let Jesus in
He changed everything
Life is wonderful now
Since his blessings came into my heart
Joy unspeakable fills every part
And I want to live for my Lord
Life is wonderful now!
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Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
Coming late to this thread .. how can I have missed it!
quote:
Originally posted by Punkijellybean:
Anyone know what the line "I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, but oh, the waters failed", is about? I kid you not. The hymn starts "O Christ in thee my soul have found....the peace, the joy", etc, etc. A good start, but downhill thereon after.
Seems like we now have cyclist hymns, and plumbers'anthems. Any other vocational specials??
I always thought the plumber's anthem was:
"I got drains
I got drains
I got drains, I got drains!
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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dyfrig
Blue Scarfed Menace
# 15
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Posted
Wow, Gracious Rebel - after so many pages, I thought we'd plumbed the very depths of hell, but you really have come with a beaut, there.
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"He was wrong in the long run, but then, who isn't?" - Tony Judt
Posts: 6917 | From: pob dydd Iau, am hanner dydd | Registered: Apr 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
Dyfrig,
on this at least, we can agree.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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ChastMastr
Shipmate
# 716
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Posted
The Cub had been making references to a particularly horrible hymn which I just had to find an MP3 for, in its entirety. Imagine his surprise when I played "Royal Telephone" on my Mac the next time he mentioned it!
Telephone to glory, oh what joy divine!
You can feel the current coming down the line!
Made by God the Father for his loved and own
You can talk to Jesus on His Royal Telephone...
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My essays on comics continuity: http://chastmastr.tumblr.com/tagged/continuity
Posts: 14068 | From: Clearwater, Florida | Registered: Jul 2001
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dorothea
Goodwife and low church mystic
# 4398
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Posted
David,
quote:
Telephone to glory, oh what joy divine!
You can feel the current coming down the line!
Made by God the Father for his loved and own
You can talk to Jesus on His Royal Telephone...
Sung to a skiffle tune?
Posts: 1581 | From: Notlob City Limits | Registered: Apr 2003
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dyfrig
Blue Scarfed Menace
# 15
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Posted
This may explain why prayer is a bit like hearing a distant voice saying, "Trying to connect you."
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"He was wrong in the long run, but then, who isn't?" - Tony Judt
Posts: 6917 | From: pob dydd Iau, am hanner dydd | Registered: Apr 2001
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diapason
Apprentice
# 4230
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Posted
To continue the theme on hymns for plumbers, roofers, cyclists etc, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the animal trainer's hymn - "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear", or even the baker's hymn - "I knead thee every hour"...
There's also a hazardous opportunity for misplacing a breath in "My God, I love Thee not [gasp] because I hope for Heaven thereby"
Posts: 40 | From: Scotland | Registered: Mar 2003
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Wm Duncan
Buoy tender
# 3021
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Posted
Last Sunday we sang an oldie (part of our centennial observances): "How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours." And a duet sang "Ivory Palaces." Just to say that schlocky hymnody is nothing new.
Wm Duncan
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I have overcome a fiercely anti-Catholic upbringing in order to attend Mass simply and solely to escape Protestant guitars. Why am I here? Who gave these nice Catholics guitars?
-- Annie Dillard
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flev
Shipmate
# 3187
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Posted
And another superb song to patronise the kids with...
Life without Jesus is like a doughnut,
Is like a doughnut, is like a doughnut,
Life without Jesus is like a doughnut,
'cos there's a hole in the middle of your soul
Repeat ad infinitum using ideas from the kids for other things with holes in the middle (eg hula hoop, party ring biscuit...) The ultimate so far has to be "a fried egg with the yolk taken out".
It's sung to a super-perky tune, with a chorus about letting Jesus in to fill the hole in your life. And once the kids start suggesting alternative verses, there's no chance of scanning properly!
![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
Posts: 402 | From: Right in the middle | Registered: Aug 2002
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dyfrig
Blue Scarfed Menace
# 15
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Posted
But you can get doughnuts without holes - I've seen them in Morrisons.
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"He was wrong in the long run, but then, who isn't?" - Tony Judt
Posts: 6917 | From: pob dydd Iau, am hanner dydd | Registered: Apr 2001
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flev
Shipmate
# 3187
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Posted
Yep - that sort of kills the imagery stone dead, doesn't it!
Posts: 402 | From: Right in the middle | Registered: Aug 2002
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by flev:
And another superb song to patronise the kids with...
Life without Jesus is like a doughnut,
Is like a doughnut, is like a doughnut,
Life without Jesus is like a doughnut,
'cos there's a hole in the middle of your soul
Repeat ad infinitum using ideas from the kids for other things with holes in the middle (eg hula hoop, party ring biscuit...) The ultimate so far has to be "a fried egg with the yolk taken out".
It's sung to a super-perky tune, with a chorus about letting Jesus in to fill the hole in your life. And once the kids start suggesting alternative verses, there's no chance of scanning properly!
It's theologically nonsense as well. God is person-shaped, not hole-shaped.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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dorothea
Goodwife and low church mystic
# 4398
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Posted
Dyfig wrote:
quote:
But you can get doughnuts without holes - I've seen them in Morrisons.
and for some reason that really cracked me up. Do they have jam or vanilla custard in them?
J
Posts: 1581 | From: Notlob City Limits | Registered: Apr 2003
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Miffy
Ship's elephant
# 1438
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Miffy:
Our local radio played 'Love Divine, all loves excelling' this morning set to the melody of Mozart's 'Ave Verum.'
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
They did it again! ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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"I don't feel like smiling." "You're English dear; fake it!" (Colin Firth "Easy Virtue")
Growing Greenpatches
Posts: 4739 | From: The Kitchen | Registered: Oct 2001
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Albatross
Apprentice
# 4153
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Posted
Ahhh, Christmas approaches, and the opportunity for ever more saccharine-sweet hymns and choruses comes with it. I see we are already discussing the... ummm.... interesting qualities of "In the bleak midwinter" (which was of course neither bleak nor midwinter), and also "O come O come Immanuel" - which happens to be a fave of mine, although I agree it's usually sung at a funereal pace that does it few favours.
I was once in a choir (don't ask how!) that did the Shepherd's Pipe (or Pie) Carol, which wasn't bad except for the Pie of course. I also found myself standing next to a rather good singer - and Quaker - in said choir, who decided to make sure he was singing politically correct versions of the lines. No-one else was, and it was most distracting - especially as, not being able to read music, I was following him. (Except when he attempted - and almost pulled off - the descant for "O come all ye Faithful" as I didn't have my nutcrackers with me.)
Mrs. Albatross has a personal dislike for "See him lying on a bed of straw" that I can sort of understand - I've heard it sung so many times by more traditional congregations who are making a half-hearted attempt at being "with it", complete with of course the sound of embarrassed clapping that never remains quite in time.
One that never seems to get sung these days is of course the rather too masculine "God rest ye merry Gentlemen" although I think it should still have a place at midnight communions on Christmas Eve where the church is a little too close for comfort to the nearest Pub.
"Little Donkey" anyone? I used to love this when I was very little, but find myself cringing at it now, but it is of course a fixture for many Nativity services, and offers a valuable time for any Sunday School Teachers/Junior Church Leaders (delete as tradition dictates) to deal with the third shepherd who is having a crisis while Joseph, Mary, and Donkey Toy from the Costa Del Sol wander around the church.
Another one that I personally think is strictly for the younger members is "Away in a Manger" - by this point the sugar overdose raches epic proportions, and the atmosphere is so full of it it might as well be candy floss.
Any more? ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, logical, and wrong.
Posts: 34 | From: Merseyside | Registered: Feb 2003
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Cartwheel
Apprentice
# 5149
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Posted
"This is the truth sent from above"
It's a lovely carol but for some reason, which I have never understood, people tend to cut all the verses dealing with the Fall, so you go straight from "Woman was made with man to dwell" to "Thus we were heirs to endless woes"!!
Posts: 25 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Psyduck
Ship's vacant look
# 2270
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Posted
Cartwheel - reminds me of the Christmas Watchnight Service I organized some years ago, with the Youth Group set to offer hospitality to the congregation as they left for home. The last hymn was "Good Christian men, rejoice!"
And as we got to "Ox and ass before him bow" I suddenly remembered that in a very few minutes, the congregation would be sipping oxtail soup! Seemed a bit heartless...
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The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.
"Lle rhyfedd i falchedd fod/Yw teiau ar y tywod." (Ieuan Brydydd Hir)
Posts: 5433 | From: pOsTmOdErN dYsToPiA | Registered: Feb 2002
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Oriel
Shipmate
# 748
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Albatross:
Another one that I personally think is strictly for the younger members is "Away in a Manger" - by this point the sugar overdose raches epic proportions, and the atmosphere is so full of it it might as well be candy floss.
I dunno. I rather think "Away in a manger" is rather spoilt by only ever being lisped by four-year-olds. Sung well, it's a lovely tune, but people get put off it because they never do hear it sung well, because it is deemed to be a children's song and therefore only very small children get to sing it.
Rhiannon
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Unlike the link previously in my sig, I actually update my Livejournal from time to time.
Posts: 796 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2001
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kentishmaid
Shipmate
# 4767
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Posted
Sorry if this is already lurking somewhere in the thread, but I seem to remember being forced to sing some chorus in choir, set to the tune of 'I love to go a wandering', with He lives, he lives, I know that my Redeemer lives, he lives, he lives within my heart, set to the Val De Ri part. Truly terrible.
Then there was the chorus set to the tune of the Norwegian counting song (for any ex-brownies out there), that went:
Jesus loved us and he died for us,
That from sin we might be
Cleansed by him who longs to give to us
Life eternal and free
So, let us,
Thank him for his grace
That leads to believe
etc.
We were also forced to sing 'The Highway Code', which I understand was actually a chart topper in the sixties, but for our purposes was basically used to poke fun at Matins. Bizarre, but there you go. (This did, however, come from the same choir mistress, who, when exhorting us to sing with more expression in the Ugly Duckling song (from the film Hans Christian Anderson) told us that she wanted 'a really big whee!'. (I hasten to add that said choir mistress was my dearly departed mum, who I love to bits, but some of the things she made us sing......).)
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"Who'll be the lady, who'll be the lord, when we are ruled by the love of one another?"
Posts: 2063 | From: Huddersfield | Registered: Jul 2003
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Nunzia
Shipmate
# 4766
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Oriel:
quote:
Originally posted by Albatross:
Another one that I personally think is strictly for the younger members is "Away in a Manger" - by this point the sugar overdose raches epic proportions, and the atmosphere is so full of it it might as well be candy floss.
I dunno. I rather think "Away in a manger" is rather spoilt by only ever being lisped by four-year-olds. Sung well, it's a lovely tune, but people get put off it because they never do hear it sung well, because it is deemed to be a children's song and therefore only very small children get to sing it.
Rhiannon
True. Maddy Prior did a very nice version of it in the "Carols and Capers" CD
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Posts: 1903 | From: Crazy-glued to the ledge | Registered: Jul 2003
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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
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Posted
Perhaps its being Advent stirred this unhappy memory in me (though it was not a 'seasonal' song.) Once again, the horrid tune is necessary to catch the full impact, but the words were as follows (I can only remember one verse... which is merciful):
Chorus:
Glory to God on high,
Peace to all good men,
Honour and praise him all of our days,
And love him and all mankind.
Verse I recall:
Praise the Lord in prayer,
Praise the Lord in song,
Praise the Lord in all we do,
And we can't go far wrong.
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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
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Talitha
Shipmate
# 5085
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Posted
One of the worst songs I've ever encountered in the "let's pretend everything's wonderful now we've given our lives to Jesus" variety goes:
"I'm in-right out-right up-right down-right happy through and through
I'm in-right out-right up-right down-right happy 'cos it's true
Jesus cared for meeeeeee, when he died on Calvareeeee
I'm in-right out-right up-right down-right happy through and through."
With actions.
And one of the worst in the aforementioned "having sex with Jesus" category (and "grating split infinitive" category) contains the lines:
"What a friend I've found, closer than a brother
I have felt your touch, more intimate than lovers
It would break my heart to ever lose each other."
And one of the all-time worst songs ever written, which I am thankful I've never actually been forced to sing, but which I happened to see printed in a book of songs that were trying to be up-to-date and relevant to real issues in the real world, etc, consists solely of the repeated lyric "AIDS, AIDS, give us a break."
I kid you not. Can someone explain to me how that constitutes a worship song?
Posts: 554 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Oct 2003
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Talitha
Shipmate
# 5085
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Posted
(How did that happen? I was trying to edit my post to add a word. Could a host please delete the repeated one? Thanks)
Talitha - duplicated post deleted as requested - if you care to let me know what the error was I'll fix that as well and delete additional un-necessary posts.
BTW - I suspect that you clicked the right-hand most icon (the quote icon) rather than the edit icon one in from the right. It's an error I often make - but as a host I can fix it!
[edited as above]
[ 11. December 2003, 22:15: Message edited by: TonyK ]
Posts: 554 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Oct 2003
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dorothea
Goodwife and low church mystic
# 4398
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Posted
Talitha wrote:
quote:
And one of the all-time worst songs ever written, which I am thankful I've never actually been forced to sing, but which I happened to see printed in a book of songs that were trying to be up-to-date and relevant to real issues in the real world, etc, consists solely of the repeated lyric "AIDS, AIDS, give us a break."
I kid you not. Can someone explain to me how that constitutes a worship song?
Ouch, that makes me wince. Reduces one of our biggest sexual health problems to a Kit-Kat advert. Beggars belief.
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Protestant head? Catholic Heart?
http://joansbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/
Posts: 1581 | From: Notlob City Limits | Registered: Apr 2003
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Cod
Shipmate
# 2643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sarkycow:
Plenty of people, including me, have said this before, and it will get said again and again and again.
But it happened in church yesterday, so I'm flagging it up right now.
Just wtf is it with songs that basically say: "I want to have sex with Jesus"?
shudder
I agree.
But not only that, but the large number of songs in the mid Nineties which in an effort to seem 'intimate' ended up containing some very unfortunate phrases. I'm reminded of the following Matt Redman song (which I admit to singing heartily at a couple of Soul Survivors)
(emphasis mine)
quote:
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart
(blush)
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"I fart in your general direction."
M Barnier
Posts: 4229 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Apr 2002
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Cartwheel
Apprentice
# 5149
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Posted
Can I submit the following as the most embarrassing double entendre EVER in a worship song. As far as I remember, it goes
"Before the world began
You were on his mind
And everything you've done
Is precious in His eyes
Because of his great love
He sent his only Son:
Everything was done so you would come."
and so on for another 2 verses, all with the same last line.
If I ever get married, I want that song at my wedding! ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
Posts: 25 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
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Posted
I love this thread, and I'm laughing aloud about the double entendre, so I hope no one will mind my posting two examples of 'old but bad' Christmas hymns that have no double meaning.
One, which I always thought had a tune that should be played by an organ grinder (only a monkey would appreciate it), had these words:
O dear little children,
O come one and all,
Draw near to a crib here in Bethelehem's stall,
And see what a bright ray of heaven's delight,
The father has sent on this thrice holy night.
(I've no notion of why it is thrice holy... and just noticed that this crowd is 'coming' as well...)
Another, all the worse when choirs 'dragged' (which they always did), was:
See amidst the winter's snow,
Born to us on earth below,
See the tender lamb appears
Promised from eternal years.
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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
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